Operation Breaking Terrorism

Operation Breaking Terrorism was a military operation launched by the Iraqi government with Iranian and American assistance that was carried out in the summer of 2016 against Islamic State militants in the city of Fallujah, Anbar Governorate. The Islamic State had been besieged in Fallujah since 2 February 2016, just a month over two years after the group had seized Fallujah in an anti-government offensive at the start of the Iraqi Civil War.

History
Fallujah fell to the Islamic State in January 2014 at the start of the Iraqi Civil War, having been a previous hotbed of insurgent activity during the Iraq War. On 2 February 2016, as the Iraqi Army and Shia militias counterattacked with aerial support from the USA and its allies and ground support from Iran's Quds Force, the Islamic State was besieged in Fallujah, which had become its second-most important stronghold in Iraq. While the nearby city of Hit was taken in the Iraqi offensive, the government forces were bogged down in the face of heavy resistance by around 1,000 ISIS fighters in Fallujah, and the Islamic State used IEDs to slow down the army's advance in the outskirts of the city. On 23 May 2016, the Iraqi Army secured al-Karmah from the Islamic State, and Iraqi forces constantly gained ground due to assistance from US Air Force targeted airstrikes against ISIS. By 30 May, Iraqi forces entered the city from three directions, prompting the Islamic State to move its treasury to Mosul as the city slowly fell. Resistance was still stiff, with the Islamic State posting videos of its fighters engaging the Iraqi Army in combat on Twitter and other social media websites. Eventually, as the Islamic State launched several costly and failed attacks on the Iraqi Army, they began to whittle down their own forces, allowing for the Iraqi army to continue advancing into the heart of the city.